Vali Nasr Interviewed by Jere Van Dyk

"For the Iranians, the Taliban and Saddam were a problem, and the United States removed both of them," says Nasr. "So, actually, if there is an opportunity for Iran to become a regional power, it came because of the 2001 attack on Afghanistan and the 2003 fall of Saddam. So they benefited from what the United States did."